This past saturday was Radnor, Freddy's first recognized event. I had so much fun and I am super pleased with how he did.

When I arrived there saturday morning it was raining and chilly and I had managed to forget my jacket at the barn. Luckily I had a raincoat in the car so I stuck that on to go down and pick up my packet. They had changed my dressage time from 11:35 to 12:19 so that gave me time to walk my XC before dressage. I did sort of a bare minimum course walk because I was so wet and miserable with the rain. Clearly that was a bad idea because I got a little turned around when I actually got out on course (oops!). Once I was done walking I booked it back to the truck to try and dry off a bit before I had to get dressed. My parents came out to watch and show support but they didn't arrive until about 25 minutes before my dressage so I didn't have anyone to help me get ready. It's not like I need a groom but it's nice to have someone who can throw tack on the horse and keep an eye on him while I get dressed so that I don't get all dirty in the process. Anyways, by the time I got on my parents were there and I had about 20 minutes to warm up. Freddy jigged and chomped allll the way to the warmup. I just thought "oh no, this is not going to go well." As soon as we got in the warmup ring he was fine though. I walked him around on a loose rein for a few minutes then proceeded with my warmup as usual. He was all business, completely relaxed and focused on me. When it was our turn to go in the ring steward warned me that a lot of horses were spooking in my ring, especially at A, so I made sure to trot him all the way around before going in. It turns out he was fine. He put in a nice relaxed easy test. He definitely could have had a bit more impulsion, and his left lead canter depart was a little unbalanced but overall it was good and a major improvement over what he was able to put in this summer. We ended up scoring a respectable 34.7 and were sitting in 3rd out of 17 after dressage. Not bad for baby'd first recognized event!

I forgot that they were running behind so I got down to SJ way earlier than I needed to. They were on something like number 78 when I got down there and I was number 112. I watched about 7 or 8 riders go then headed over to the warmup to just trot and canter him around to get him moving again. He was getting antsy so I didn't want to make him stand around too long. He continued to be relaxed and trotted and cantered around long and low and lovely despite the fact that the ring was packed and we nearly had a head on collision with someone who cut in front of me out of nowhere. I jumped a couple fences then went out to watch a few more riders go. The course was tough and it looked like quite a few people were having rails and some refusals. The rider before me had a bunch of stops and got eliminated so I think I sort of got nervous and psyched myself out. I was worried about him being behind my leg so I sort of gunned him around the course and didn't rebalance him very well. Right at the enf of the course there was a 2 stride in and out, a square oxer to a vertical. I got in at an awkward distance to the first fence and pushed him for the long spot when we should have waited. He knocked the back rail of the oxer then sort of died in the middle and had to take off long to the vertical and took that one down too. I felt awful because it was totally my fault. I panicked and left him to figure it out himself. I'm lucky he's so honest.

After that we had to head down to XC. Because I got him so fired up he was a little silly on the walk over. There was a pile of jump rails that were ZOMG so scary that he had to fly backwards in fright. Then we passed a water trough of death and a puddle of peril and he just thought he was going to die. Of course once we got down to the warmup he was his regular sleepy self and all was well in the world. I trotted him on a long rein over the x a couple times and he stayed quiet and happy so then I cantered him a few times over the little rolltop that they had out. Again, he was great so I just decided to let him chill until it was our turn to go. I think I let him stand around a bit too long because when I got out on course he totally hesitated at the first fence. I think he thought he was done and was surprised to be jumping so I should have taken him over another fence or 2 when the ride before me went out. Oh well, live and learn. At times we got a reeeeally nice gallop going and I got a taste of what he's going to be capable of in the future. The one fence that I was a bit worried about was the drop into water because he hasn't really done one before. I decided to bring him back to a trot for that and he did hesitate a little bit but he was a good boy and stepped right off. The rest of the course felt like a breeze and I had a ton of fun riding it.

We ended up placing 7th overall but we would have been 2nd if I hadn't had a brain fart in the SJ. We will definitely work on it for next time, maybe set up some combinations and turning questions in the ring at home. Our next outing is Waredaca on the 25th and if all goes well, hello training level!

A couple pics that mom took. We definitely still need to work on getting him uphill and a little less inside rein..but it'll come.